Not Curious At All
by AGirlWithTheBrokenSmile
Summary: Alice Potter is Harry's twin sister. She's the spitting image of her mother; hair, eyes and all. What happens when her arrival at Hogwarts brings back painful, bittersweet memories for a certain teacher? And will she learn the truth about her mother, and the man who never stopped loving her? Philosopher's Stone-Deathly Hallows.
1. Chapter 1

**I know. I'm writing another story, when I should be updating my others. I just couldn't resist! I was thinking of my favorite quote in the Deathly Hallows Part 2, and I got this wonderful idea! Here's the quote, if you haven't already guessed it from the title:**

**"Professor, my mother's patronus was a doe, wasn't it? It's the same as Professsor Snape's. It's curious, don't you think?"**

**"Actually, after I think about it, it doesn't seem curious at all."**

**So, this story randomly popped in my head, and naturally, I HAD to write it down...**

**WARNING: This follows the movie mostly, but that's because I remember it much better than the book, and I'm basically too lazy to get up off my butt and picked it up off the shelf. However, there are still parts that follow the book. **

**Hope you enjoy!**

In Number Four, Privet Drive, Alice Potter woke up with a start, bolting upright in bed, breathing heavily. Her forehead was beaded with sweat, and her arms were shaking like mad.

It was the same dream that she had been having since she was six; she would see a flash of emerald green light, and she would feel a searing pain in her forehead. In fact, Alice had the dream so frequently, she couldn't even remember any of her other dreams.

Alice let out a deep, shaky breath and ran her trembling hands through her auburn hair. She sat there for a few more moments, pondering. She had given up on figuring out what the dream was about a long time ago-she knew it was no use. She didn't even have a single clue as to what it meant.

Her brother, Harry, turned over in his sleep, mumbling something incoherent. At least Alice wasn't the only one having odd dreams.

She gently lay back down on the tiny bed, if it could even be called that, her eyes glued to the ceiling of the small cupboard. She seemed to lay there forever; it was impossible to get back to sleep. It always was. Eventually, however, her aunt Petunia's shrill voice cut through the air.

"Up! Get up!" She rapped the door of the cupboard with her knuckles for good measure. "_Now_!"

Harry snapped awake, and met his sister's eye, who was currently sitting up in bed, her loose red hair in tangles.

"Guess what day it is?" she mumbled, her face downcast and a look of dread in her green eyes.

Harry must have realized what she meant, because he groaned and fell back onto the bed, scowling.

"What did you say?" Petunia was back.

Harry sighed quietly. "Nothing, nothing..." he muttered, closing his eyes.

Alice opened the cupboard door and gently closed it behind her after exiting. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and ran her hands through her red hair once again-a habit she had had for as long as she could remember. She couldn't help it; it was almost like an instinct.

She heard the sound of stomping feet, and her eyes flickered up to the stairs, on which her whale of a cousin, Dudley Dursley, was jumping quite intensely.

"Wake up, Potters! We're going to the zoo!" He then cackled loudly and stormed his way down the carpeted steps. He pushed Alice aside like a trash can lid and pushed Harry back into the cupboard, from which had just attempted to emerge, and closed the door with his foot. Laughing still, he flung open the glass kitchen door and scurried inside. Rolling her eyes, she followed after him reluctantly, a feeling of absolute dread settling in her stomach.

She made her way over to the stove, where Petunia, after kissing Dudley on the cheek, hissed, "Make Vernon's coffee, and do _not _mess it up."

Alice sighed and replied quietly, in a tone that was almost bored, "Yes, Aunt Petunia."

She went over to the coffee maker, and at that moment, her black-haired brother entered the kitchen, looking just as exhausted as she felt. He rubbed at his eyes, and after directions from their aunt, began cooking bacon for the three-person family, all of which had settled into the living room.

After the coffee was made and the bacon fried, Harry and Alice settled down at the wooden dinner table, Alice sipping at her cold orange juice and Harry nibbling on his bacon.

Vernon, Petunia and Dudley finished before the twins, and all hobbled into the living room, where Petunia and Vernon sat down, and Dudley crouched on the floor, greedily soaking up the sight of his overflowing presents.

He jerked his head up to look at Uncle Vernon. "How many are there?" He asked, his eyes narrowed.

"Thirty-six, counted them myself."

Dudley's face turned tomato red, and Harry and Alice exchanged a worried (and slightly terrified) look, and began gobbling down their food, out of fear that their large cousin would turn over the table in anger; he was quite capable of doing it.

"Thirty-six!" Dudley bellowed, fury in his voice. "But last year I had thirty-seven!" Alice resisted the strong urge to roll her eyes. How spoiled could you get?

"How about this?" Petunia reasoned, obviously sensing danger as well. "When we go out, we'll buy you two new presents? How's that, pumpkin?"

Dudley's face paled a bit, and he had an expression of deep thought on his face. "So...that's means I'll have...thirty-thirty..."

Alice almost face-palmed. She wasn't sure why, actually; she should be used to Dudley's mindless antics by now.

"Thirty-eight, sweetie." Petunia said, smiling fondly at her blonde-haired son.

"Oh," Dudley said, calming down considerably. "All right, then."

After Dudley opened all of his birthday presents, Petunia got a call. She picked it up, talked for a bit, and then set the phone back down, looking irritated, as well as worried.

"Bad news," she stated, turning towards her husband, who was currently drinking yet another cup of coffee, "Mrs. Figg broke her leg. She can't take them." She jerked her head in the direction of Harry and Alice, glaring at them, as if Mrs. Figg's injury was their fault.

"Well...what about that friend of yours, uh...Yvonne?" Uncle Vernon suggested, looking hopeful.

Petunia shook her head. "She's on holiday this week in Majorca."

"We could stay behind while you go." Alice suggested hopefully.

Petunia looked as if she had just swallowed a lemon. "And come back and find the house in ruins?" She asked, disbelief evident in her voice.

Alice resisted the urge to roll her eyes once again and instead exclaimed, "We won't blow up the house!" Harry nodded in agreement, finishing his piece of bacon with another bite.

"B-but I d-don't w-ant' them to g-go!" Dudley wailed. Of course, he wasn't really crying. However, if he just screwed up his face and whined, his parents would easily mistake it for hysterical sobbing.

Petunia flung her arms around her son and cried, "Don't worry, pumpkin, Mummy won't let anyone ruin your special day!"

Alice, being quite used to her aunt's extremely over-dramatic behavior, just shook her head and took another sip of orange juice. It was quite good, she mused to herself. Petunia should buy this brand more often.

The doorbell sounded, and Petunia straightened herself up. She hurried over to the front door and quickly let in one of Dudley's friends, named Piers Polkiss. As soon as said boy entered the living room, Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once. Alice snorted quietly. _Typical Dudley. _Harry shot her an amused look, and Alice just shrugged in response.

Half an hour later, neither Alice nor Harry could believe their luck. They both sat in Uncle Vernon's car, riding to the zoo for the first time in their lives.

The day actually went quite well, at first. When Petunia and Vernon had gone to buy Dudley and Piers some ice-cream, the lady asked Harry and Alice what they wanted before they could make a quick getaway. So, Alice and Harry were each bought a cheap lemon ice pop.

_This is all much too good to last…_Alice thought, licking her ice pop as she happily walked around the room, reading the signs next to the animals intently; it was all quite interesting.

Unfortunately, she was right.

As soon as the group entered the reptile room, Dudley quickly hurried over to the biggest, most deadly-looking snake he could find.

Alice, Harry and Piers found themselves standing beside Dudley as he gazed at a huge snake, looking bored.

"Make it move," he demanded, looking up at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped the glass, but nothing happened.

Dudley sighed in annoyance. "Do it again."

Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake continued to sleep peacefully, not giving the large man and his son a thought.

Dudley scowled. "This is boring," he announced, and then scurried away to find some other man-crushing python or something of the sort.

Harry and Alice stayed behind as the rest of the group followed after him. Slowly, and to Alice's surprise, the snake lifted its head so it was level with Harry and Alice.

It winked. At them.

Alice just blinked, confused. _Wait…_she thought, _snakes don't even _have _eyelids, do they? _Harry, on the other hand, smiled and winked back. Alice rolled her eyes.

"I know," Harry muttered to the snake through the glass. "It must be really annoying."

The snake nodded.

Alice blinked yet again. _What_? Was her brother _talking _to a _snake_?

Wondering if the snake understood her as well, she asked quietly, "Where do you come from, anyway?"

To her surprise, the snake jabbed its tail toward a sign inside the cage. Alice squinted to read it.

_Boa Constrictor, Brazil. _

Alice looked back at the snake. "Was it nice there?" She asked. "Do you miss your family?"

The snake shook its head and jabbed its tail at the sign once more.

_This specimen was bred in the zoo. _

"Oh, I see." Harry remarked sadly. "Alice and I never knew our parents, either." He gestured to the still considerably-shocked redhead next to him.

Suddenly, Dudley scrambled over to the glass, looking both shocked and amazed. "MUM! DAD!" He shouted. "PIERS! COME HERE, YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT THIS SNAKE IS DOING!"

He pushed Harry to the floor and shoved Alice aside, pressing his hands up against the dirty glass. Harry shot his cousin a glare, and suddenly, the glass _vanished. _Alice jumped back from the wooden rail, looking shocked.

Dudley and Piers jumped back as well, letting out yelps of surprise. They slowly backed up as the snake slithered out of the cage and onto the floor.

"Thanks," it hissed.

Harry, still on the floor, whispered, looking stunned, "Anytime."Alice didn't even bother to remark; she was too shocked at the fact that a hard, solid glass window had just disappeared in front of her very eyes. It was impossible! Was she seeing things?

Yes, that it had to be it. What other possible explanation was there?

…

As soon as Alice opened the door of the Dursley's house, she knew that she was in for it. Big time. Unfortunately for her, she was, once again, correct.

After Petunia had ushered Dudley and Piers into the living room and entered the kitchen to make them each of cup of tea, Vernon grabbed both Harry and Alice by the hair on top of their heads and shoved them up against the short cupboard wall. "_What happened_?" He questioned, struggling to keep his furious voice under control.

"I don't know!" Harry replied honestly, wincing at the pain in his head. "One minute the glass was there and the next it was gone!"

"It was like magic!" Alice added. She regretted the words as soon as they escaped her mouth; that statement as sure to only make things worse for the two children.

Vernon growled angrily, hastily flung open the door of the cupboard and threw them inside, his face as red as a fire truck. "There's no such thing as _magic_!" He hissed, slamming the small door shut and stomping his way into the kitchen.

Later that day, after everyone, excluding her brother, had gone to sleep, Alice lay in the dark cupboard, not a single ray of light visible in the small, black space.

"Harry?" She whispered, her voice soft and quiet so she wouldn't wake any of the Dursleys.

Immediately, her brother whispered back, "Yeah?"

Alice sighed, her eyes still glued to the pitch-black ceiling. "This is going to sound silly," she began, her face turning slightly red, "but…have you ever…I don't know, wished that someone could come take us away from here? Have you ever dreamed about someone rescuing us from this place?" She didn't bother to hide the disgust in her voice when she said, "this place." Harry could read her like an open book, anyway, even if he couldn't see her.

There was a short silence before Harry answered, "Yeah, I do. All the time."

"Me, too, Harry. Goodnight."

"'Night, Alice."

Alice knew that the next few months wouldn't be pretty, but she wasn't alone. She had Harry. And as long as she had Harry, she had hope.

Hope for better times. Hope for a miracle.

Hope for a chance to finally, _finally _breakaway.

**I really hope you enjoyed it; I spent a lot of time on this one. I've been planning it for a long while, now. **

**Reviews are greatly appreciated; Constructive Criticism is extremely helpful. If you don't like something, or if something seems off, do tell.**

**I would love at least three reviews before I update; I want to know if there's any interest in the story. **

**:)**

**-Lily**

**If you sneezed while reading this, bless **_**you**_**! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey! I'm back, and thank you so much for your wonderful reviews! I especially thank MissHaleyBlack for her wonderful advice; I'll try my hardest to do what she suggested. Also, if you think Alice is wondering into Sue territory, please tell me. **

The Brazilian Boa Constrictor incident at the zoo earned Harry and Alice their longest punishment _ever. _By the time they were finally released from the suffocating cupboard, it was already summer holidays; something that Alice was most certainly not looking forward to.

All that came out of summer for her and her brother was constant torture and taunting from Dudley and his gang. Alice and Harry were either stuck inside all day, doing absolutely nothing, minus the chores that their aunt gave them, or they were being beat up by their cousin and his friends, or, in better words, cronies.

During her free time, Alice would wonder the house and the park down the rode, thinking about what lay ahead. When the summer holidays ended, Alice and Harry would be shipped off to secondary school, and for the first time in their lives, they would be away from their cousin, who was accepted into an expensive, private school called Smeltings.

One day in July, after Dudley had paraded around proudly in his uniform, and Harry and Alice had seen their "uniforms" for the first time, there was the clicking sound of mail being pushed through the thin slot in the front door, and Vernon commanded, "Dudley, get the mail."

"Make Harry get the mail." Dudley argued.

"Harry, get the mail."

"Make Dudley get the mail."

"Dudley, poke him with your Smelting's stick."

Alice rolled her eyes at the sheer immaturity in the room and stated, "I'll get the mail," before exiting the room, seeing Harry barely dodging the Smelting's stick out of the corner of her eye.

As Alice bended down at the front door to pick up the mail, she noticed something quite strange; there were two letters that were addressed to her and Harry. Curious, she picked up the two letters, leaving the other letters laying on the _Welcome _mat.

One said:

_Mr. H Potter_

_The Cupboard Under the Stairs_

_4 Privet Drive_

_Little Whinging _

_Surrey_

And the other:

_Ms. A Potter_

_The Cupboard Under the Stairs_

_4 Privet Drive_

_Little Whinging_

_Surrey_

Alice blinked and turned over her letter. To her surprise, on the back, was a seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, a badger, an eagle and a snake, surrounding the large letter _H_. The same seal was on the back of Harry's, as well.

Still quite shocked, Alice picked up the other letters and made her way back into the living room, where she handed Vernon the extra mail and gave Harry his own letter. Harry shot her a look, and Alice shrugged, just as confused as he was. Who would want to write to them? They had no friends, and they weren't in any clubs or anything of that sort.

Alice began to slowly open her letter, as she heard Vernon snort, and after a short pause, say, "Marge's ill. Ate a funny whelk..."

"Dad!" Dudley exclaimed. "Dad, Harry and Alice have got letters!"

Alice was at the point of unfolding her letter, as was Harry, when it was jerked sharply out of her hands, while Dudley took Harry's and handed it to Vernon.

Alice jumped up, fuming. "Give it back!" She demanded. "_It's mine_!" She hurried over to her uncle and desperately tried to snatch it back, unsuccessfully.

"Who'd be writing to _you two_?" Vernon asked, shaking one of the letters open with one hand and glancing at it. It a time span of about five seconds, his face went from fire truck red to green, to pasty white. "P-Petunia!" He gasped.

Dudley made a grab for one of the letters, but Vernon held it up, high out of reach. Petunia hurried into the living room and took the letter. She must have read only the first line before dramatically clutching her throat and making an odd sort of choking noise. "Vernon!" She exclaimed, shaking her head. "Oh my goodness-Vernon!"

They shared a terrified look, as if forgetting that Harry, Alice and Dudley were currently in the same room. Dudley, who obviously wasn't used to being ignored by his parents, stated, "I want to read it."

Alice's face was completely red with anger. "_I _want to read it. It's _my _letter, not _his_, or _yours_. It's _mine_!"

Vernon took out Harry's letter, opened it, and after reading the first few words, gasped and shook his head. He stuffed the two letters back into their envelopes and commanded gruffly, "Get out. All three of you."

Neither Harry, Alice, nor Dudley moved.

"I WANT MY LETTER!" Harry shouted, and Alice almost flinched, despite the situation; Harry could be rather scary when his temper made an appearance.

"_OUT!" _Roared Vernon.

He managed to push the three of them into the kitchen and out the glass door, before closing it and locking it.

There was a short, desperate fight for the keyhole between the three. Dudley won, so Harry and Alice had to lay flat on their stomachs and listen through the crack between the door and the floor.

Petunia was saying in a shaky voice, "Vernon, look at the address. How could they possibly know where they sleep? Do you think they're watching us?"

"Watching, spying, they could be _following _us for all we know." Uncle Vernon replied.

"Well, then, what should we do?" Petunia asked. "Should we write back, telling them flat out that we don't want-"

"No." Vernon interrupted his wife abruptly. "We'll ignore it. If we ignore them long enough, they'll stop. Yes, that'll work..."

"But-"

"I'm not having two of them in the house, Petunia!" Vernon snapped furiously. "Didn't we swear when we took them in that we'd stamp out all this dangerous nonsense?"

...

Later, when Vernon got back from work, he opened the door to Harry and Alice's cupboard. Immediately, Harry asked, "Where's my letter? Who's writing to me?"

Vernon shook his head and stated, "It was addressed to you by mistake." He glanced at Alice. "You, too. I have burned both of them."

Alice felt her fury from earlier build up inside her. "It was most certainly _not _a mistake!" She snapped. "Both of the letters had our names on them! It _can't _be a mistake." Truthfully, Alice was really saying this to convince herself, not her uncle. It couldn't have been a mistake, could it? Why else would the letters have their names on them?

"Be _quiet_!" Vernon snapped. Then, to Alice's surprise, he twisted his face into a smile, which looked incredibly painful. "Petunia and I have been thinking," he began. "It's about time we move you up into a room. You're getting much too big for this cupboard."

"But why-" Alice began.

"Don't ask questions!" Vernon spat. "Now, take your stuff upstairs."

Dudley's second bedroom was quite crowded; it was the place where he kept all his toys and things that wouldn't fit into his first bedroom. Most of the stuff in there seemed to be broken beyond repair: his first ever television set that he had put his foot through, an air rifle that was sitting on his bookshelf, bent, and a month old video camera he had received for his eleventh birthday.

It only took one trip for Alice to bring her stuff up to the bedroom, and after doing so, Harry and Alice both collapsed on the one person bed, rearranging their positions to make room.

...

In the morning, Alice learned about what Harry had attempted earlier; he had gone downstairs to get the mail early, but Vernon had been _sleeping _down there, and Harry had accidently stepped on him. After making Vernon tea, the mail arrived, but just as Harry had begun to speak, Vernon ripped the letters to shreds before his eyes.

Vernon took the day off work. He stayed home and nailed up the mail slot, believing that, if _they, _whoever "they" was, couldn't deliver the letters, they would just give up.

By Friday, no less than twelve letters had arrived for Harry and Alice each. They were pushed under the door and through the cracks on the sides of the door. Once again, Vernon stayed home, and this time, he nailed up all the cracks on the front and back doors.

On Saturday, things, to Alice's sheer disbelief (and secretly-delight) just got even crazier. The letters came in the strangest way: rolled up inside two dozen eggs. Vernon made a furious call to the post office while Petunia stuck the letters in her food processor, and Alice and Harry watched sadly as the letters were torn to bits and pieces.

On Sunday, Vernon seemed to have much more hope. He sat down on the couch, looking rather tired. "Ah, Sunday." He said cheerfully. "What a fine day, Sunday. And why is that, Dudley?" He asked his son.

When Dudley shrugged, Vernon turned to Harry who sighed quietly and asked, "Because there's no post on Sundays?"

Vernon smirked. "Right you are, Harry. No post on Sundays. Ha! No blasted letters today, no sir! Not one, single, bloody letter! Not one! Not one, blasted, miserable-"

He was caught off as, ironically enough, a letter shot towards him from the _chimney_. Before Alice could even blink in surprise, letters came shooting out from the chimney at what seemed like fifty miles an hour.

Alice and Harry exchanged excited looks before jumping up and trying to catch the falling letters. Alice almost got a hold of one when Vernon roared, "OUT! NOW!" He grabbed Harry and Alice and pushed them into the hallway, where they simply resumed picking up letters from the floor. Vernon wrestled the two to the ground and ripped the letters out of their hands, his face as red as a tomatoes. Petunia hurried into the hallway, her arm around Dudley, watching as Vernon hollered, "WE'RE GOING AWAY! FAR AWAY! WHERE THEY CAN'T FIND US!"

...

After everyone in the family had packed clothes, Vernon lead the group into his car, and they all climbed in. After everyone was buckled, Vernon backed out of the driveway and took off.

They drove. And drove. No one, not even Petunia, dared to ask where they were going. Alice pulled her knees up to her chest, and Harry grabbed her hand, squeezing it reassuringly before letting it go. Alice shot him a grateful look and turned her head the other way to gaze out the window.

Every once in a while, Vernon would jerk the steering wheel in the opposite direction and take a sharp turn. They didn't stop to eat, drink, or use the bathroom.

At last, Vernon stopped at a hotel, where they stayed for the night. It had terrible quality-the sheets were scratchy and dusty, and Alice couldn't get to sleep. Instead, she just lay awake in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, wondering when this nonsense was going to end.

They had a short breakfast of cornflakes the next morning, and it's easy to say that Alice was quite shocked when the manager of the hotel came up saying, "Are any of you Mr. H Potter or Ms. A Potter? Because there are four whole bags of letters for those two at the front desk."

Alice immediately began to speak up, but Vernon cut her off by shaking his head hastily and stating, "No, that's not us."

It had started to rain. Vernon had parked the car at the coat and gotten out, much to Alice's utter confusion.

_He's mad, _she mused. _Completely, utterly _mad. What was up with all of this wild driving? Where were they even _going_? What was so bad about those letters that they had to drive halfway across the country?

Dudley was miserable. It was Monday, and he would be missing his favorite T.V. program.

Alice immediately shot up. _Monday_? She thought. _If it's Monday, than that means tomorrow's Tuesday, which means..._

Her and Harry's birthday would be tomorrow. And who knew where they would be spending it?

After a long while, Vernon came back, smiling cheerfully. "I've found the perfect place."

...

In Alice's complete and honest opinion, the "perfect" place wasn't so perfect. It was an old, two story, falling-to-pieces building that looked as if it would collapse any second.

That night, Alice and Harry lay awake on the floor, huddled up, trying to keep warm with the thin, ragged blanket that could barely cover one person, let alone two.

Alice glanced at Dudley's watch and turned to Harry. "Only a minute to go." She whispered, shivering from the cold. Alice was surprised that Dudley had even managed to fall asleep; the howling wind outside, smacking against the walls of the hut, was enough to wake up a whole country.

Harry nodded, and after a few long moments, he began counting down. "10, 9, 8, 7, 6..."

"...5, 4, 3,

"...2, 1..."

BOOM!

Alice and Harry both sat bolt upright, and the whole hut quivered. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.

**I know, long chapter. I was just trying to keep with the book on this one. As it turns out, it's not **_**too **_**hard. **

**I would love at least three reviews before the next chapter; I want to know what you think. **

**Also, the link to the official banner is on my profile; it was made by the fantastic unknown celebrity of ! **

**:)**

**-Lily**


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